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There were just two run scoring plays in last night’s 2-1 Yankee loss to the Rangers in Arlington, both coming in the eighth inning.

In the top half, Robinson Cano (now hitting .305 on the season) singled Bubba Crosby home for the lone Yankee run (Bubba, starting in center, walked on five pitches to start the inning and was bunted to second by a slumping Derek Jeter–2 for his last 19–Crosby also singled earlier in the game, going 1 for 3 on the night).

In the bottom half, Hank Blalock hit a two-out, two-run homer to right center off of lefty Wayne Franklin to provide the Rangers with the eventual margin of victory.

The latter provoked many questions as to just what exactly Wayne Franklin was doing pitching to the heart of the Rangers order in the eighth inning of a one-run game. I’ll get to that in a moment, but first it’s worth mentioning that the only inning in which the Yankee batters were retired in order was the first. Thirteen Yankees reached base, yet they only managed to plate one run against Texas starter Chan Ho Park (5.64 ERA) and were unable to break through against relievers Kameron Loe (4.77 ERA) and Francisco Cordero (4.02, five blown saves). The Yankees as a team left eight men on base, a number artificially lowered by the fact that they hit into three double plays and ran in to one unnecessary out on the bases.

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Well, the second half of the season sure has been an exciting for the Yankees thus far, no? Before returning to action on Thursday with a four-game series against the rival first-place Red Sox, who lead them by 2 1/2 games in the standings, the Yankees learned that their best starter, who was scheduled to start on Friday, had been placed on the DL and could be done for the year. They then found out that Carl Pavano, who was expected to start Sunday, was still two weeks away from coming off the disabled list. Suddenly, the Yankees had Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny starting half of this crucial series in Boston, making the first and third games of the series, stared by Mike Mussina and Randy Johnson, must-wins of the first order.

So what happened? Mike Mussina gave up four runs in the first inning on Thursday, but the Yankees came back to win on a ninth-inning home run by Alex Rodriguez against Curt Schilling in the latter’s first relief appearance since being actived from the DL himself. The Yanks then got creamolished on Friday, losing to the Sox by a score of 17-1 for the second time this season. Unshaken, the Yankees then overcame a shaky outing by Randy Johnson by beating up on Boston ace Matt Clement to win Saturday’s game, accomplishing their revised goal for the weekend. With the Yankees still scurrying on Saturday to find a spot starter for Sunday, most fans on both sides assumed a split. Then Brian Cashman pulled of a coup.

On Thursday, Al Leiter, a big-name free agent who signed a one-year, $8 million contract this offseason, had been designated for assignment by the Marlins after a poor first-half performance. On Saturday, he was acquired by the Yankees along with $2.4 million to help pay his contract in exchange for a player to be named later. On Sunday, Leiter dominated the Red Sox for six-plus innings, allowing just one man past second base (and just two past first) while striking out eight, giving the Yankees a shocking series win and vaulting them over the Orioles into second place, just 1/2 game behind the reeling Red Sox, and putting them in a tie with the Twins for the lead in the AL Wild Card race.

Eight games into the punishingly difficult portion of the Yankees’ mid-summer schedule, the Bombers are 6-2 (one of the two being a game they probably should have won). The Yankees are now 10-3 in July against the Tigers, Orioles, Indians and Red Sox.

Tonight they get Kevin Brown back, restoring their rotation, which had been down to two men as late as Saturday night, to four strong. They’ll still need a spot starter for Wednesday’s game (Aaron Small gets the call, more on him in a bit), but that fifth spot in the rotation will fall on Monday’s off-day the next time around. That means that Carl Pavano should be ready to come off the DL when the Yankees next need a fifth starter on July 30 against the Angels at home.

It seemed that during the Yankees’ struggles during the first half every other week they would pull out one come-from behind victory against the sub-.500 A’s or the last place Devil Rays and everyone would say “maybe this is the win that turns it all around.” Then the Yankees would go out the next day and lose to the very same opponent. Wise voices at the time would say that a single win against a clearly inferior opponent couldn’t possibly be the turning point of a disappointing season. That would require a gutsy effort resulting in multiple victories against a team the Yankees weren’t supposed to beat. Something like going into Boston for a four game series with two starting pitchers and taking 3 out of 4, pinning the loses on Curt Schilling, Matt Clement and Tim Wakefield. Things couldn’t have looked worse for the Yankees Thursday afternoon. Now, on Monday afternoon, the Yankees are at their high water mark of the season.

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• Toms River, New Jersey native Alois Terry Leiter was originally drafted by the New York Yankees on June 4, 1984. Two months and one week later, Melky Cabrera was born.
• The left-handed Leiter pitched in parts of three seasons for the Yankees from 1987-1989. His career line as a Yankee in 22 games, all starts, is: 4.98 ERA, 7-8, 106 2/3 IP, 96 H, 110 K, 69 BB, 10 HR, 9.28 K/9, 5.82 BB/9, 1.59 K/BB
• Leiter struggled with blisters early in his career to such a degree that the Yankees gave up on him at the age of 23 and dealt him to the Blue Jays straight-up for Jesse Barfield on April 30, 1989.
• In Toronto, Leiter’s blister problems were so severe that he appeared in just nine games with the Blue Jays during his first four seasons with the club (5.17 ERA, 15 2/3 IP, 14 H, 10 K, 11 BB, 1 HR, 1 GS, 0-0)
• Leiter finally got over his blister struggles in 1993, making 32 appearances (12 starts) for the Blue Jays. That year he appeared in 5 postseason games and even picked up a win in relief (and cracked a double) in Game One of the World Series as the Blue Jays went on to win their second-consecutive World Championship.
• For the next two years, Leiter was a permanent part of the Blue Jay rotation (4.18 ERA, 7.73 K/9, 5.28 BB/9, 1.45 K/BB)
• Leiter signed with the Florida Marlins as a free agent following the 1995 season. In 1996, at the age of 30, he had his best year yet as a major league starter, posting a 2.93 ERA, striking out 200 men and winning 16 games for the Marlins (while also leading his league in walks for the second consecutive year). His crowning achievement came on May 11, when he no-hit the Rockies, retiring the final five batters on five pitches. Less than two months later, Leiter made his first All-Star team.
• In 1997, Leiter was less effective, but the Marlins, behind team OPS leader Gary Sheffield and team ERA leader Kevin Brown, surprised everyone by winning their first World Championship, giving Leiter his second World Series ring despite going 0-1 with three no decisions in the post season.
• As part of Wayne Huizenga’s post-Championship fire sale, Leiter was dealt to the Mets in February 1998 along with middle infieder Ray Millard for lefty Jesus Sanchez, minor league outfielder Rob Stratton and a 21-year-old righty named A.J. Burnett
• Leiter finally came into his own with the Mets at age 32, turning in what remains his finest major league season in 1998 (2.47 ERA, 17-6, 8.11 K/9, 3.31 BB/9, 2.45 K/BB). He finished sixth in the Cy Young voting that year, the highest finish in his career (his other top-10 finish coming in 1996).
• In 1999 and 2000, the Mets reached the playoffs with Leiter as their ace (he made his second All-Star team in 2000). Leiter pitched well in the postseason for the Mets, but failed to earn a win in seven starts and is probably best remembered for giving up Luis Sojo’s series-winning dribbler up the middle on his 142nd pitch in Game 5 of the 2000 World Series. Leiter’s win and double for the Blue Jays in the 1993 World Series remain his only postseason win and his only postseason hit.
• In seven seasons as a Met, Leiter posted a 3.42 ERA, a 95-67 record (.586 winning percentage), 7.32 K/9, 3.61 BB/9, 2.03 K/BB, 0.78 HR/9.
• The Mets declined Leiter’s $10 million option following the 2004 season and Leiter signed a complicated one-year, $8 million contract with the Marlins.

As you may know, the deal in which the Yankees acquired Leiter has the Yankees sending a player to be named later to Florida in exchange for Leiter and $2.4 million. Exactly how that $2.4 million is being applied to Leiter’s contract, however, is a bit confusing.

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Concluding my recap of Thursday night’s thrilling 8-3 Yankee victory over Curt Schilling and the Red Sox, I wrote:

the Yankees have been in this position before. Their last series against the Red Sox opened with a hard-fought victory to cap a 16-2 streak, only to be followed by a pair of dominating Red Sox victories and a 1-9 slide that saw the Yankees get swept by the AL-worst Royals. The current outlook, with the 46-41 Rangers replacing Kansas City, doesn’t appear much brighter. But with the way this team is playing right now, it seems like anything is possible.

I stuck that last line on there because I couldn’t bring myself to end the recap of one of the team’s biggest wins of the year on such a downer. I should have known better.

After that hard-fought victory back in late May, the Yankees came out the next day and got shelled by the Red Sox 17-1, the most lop-sided Red Sox victory over the Yankees ever. Last night, they repeated the feat, losing to the Sox again by the score of 17-1.

Curiously, the first 17-1 loss was the beginning of the end for Paul Quantrill as a Yankee as he posted the following line in relief of Carl Pavano: 2 2/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 3 HR, 1 BB, 2 K. Last night, the two pitchers aquired from the Padres for Quantrill, Darrell May and starter Tim Redding, combined to post this line:

3 2/3 IP, 10 H, 12 R, 1 HR, 7 BB, 2 K

Those two were replaced by Jason Anderson who actually set down the first four men he faced (Renteria, Ortiz, Ramirez and Nixon, no less), only to load the bases with no outs in the sixth. Anderson then struck out Mark Bellhorn and got Johnny Damon to fly out to shallow left, holding the runners, only to walk Renteria on four pitches to force in the thirteenth run. Joe Torre then brought in Buddy Groom to face David Ortiz.

Do I have to tell you what happened next? After a called strike, Ortiz crushed a grand slam into the Yankee dugout to cap the Red Sox night. Groom and Proctor spaced out two more Red Sox hits through the two remaining frames.

The worst moment of the game came in the second inning. Tim Redding, who completely lost the strike zone soon after striking out Ortiz and Ramirez in the first, loaded the bases on two walks and a Renteria single to start the inning. With the score still a reasonable 3-0, Joe Torre then called on the left-handed Darrell May (taking him out of the running for an upcoming start). May got David Ortiz to hit a weak grounder to third that scored one run, then got ahead of Manny Ramirez 0-2 only to load the count and surrender an RBI double that made the game 5-0. That brought Trot Nixon to the plate with one out and Ramirez on second and Ortiz on third.

May’s first pitch to Nixon was a called first strike. His second was looped out to center. The ball had a diving action on it and Melky Cabrera charged in and attempted to make an awkward diving catch only to miss the ball completely as it knuckled away from his glove and rolled all the way to the wall in dead center. With Sheffield nowhere to be seen, Cabrera chased the ball all the way to the wall as Nixon, who was inexplicably loafing out of the box, rounded the bases and scored standing up for what was ruled and inside-the-park home run. Cabrera had barely gotten the ball back to Derek Jeter, who had come out almost to where Cabrera made his ill-advised dive, when Nixon crossed home. That made it 8-0 in the second inning and the route was on.

Today the Yankees play another must-win game, as they have their other starter on the mound. A win behind Randy Johnson today would earn them a split and a chance to pull out a fluke victory to take the series behind Ole Saint Nick (possible true identity: Al Leiter via a PTBNL) tomorrow. Boston ace Matt Clement takes the hill for the Bosox.

In other news, Kevin Brown had a solid bullpen session yesterday and could be Monday’s starter if he still feels good today. Brown’s activation could coincide with the return of Felix Rodriguez, who pitched two scoreless innings with Trenton yesterday and is scheduled to make one more rehab appearance with the Thunder (possibly on Sunday) before being activated. Further down the line, old pal Ramiro Mendoza has started throwing batting practice as he attempts to come back from the rotater cuff surgery he had back in January.

Rochester, New York’s own Tim Redding makes his Yankee debut tonight, taking the hill against ex-Yank David Wells. Here’s what I wrote about the 27-year-old righty when the Yankees picked him up in the Paul Quantrill trade that is suddenly the source of half of their active rotation:

Redding has been absolutely terrible this year (9.10 ERA, 1.79 WHIP, .328 BAA) and was on the Padres 15-day DL with shoulder problems at the time of the trade. At the same time, those shoulder problems could explain away the terrible line. Here are some interesting snippets from his ESPN.com scouting report:

During an impressive rise through the minors, he was expected to one day be one of the [Astros’] best pitchers, with a two- and four-seam fastball, hard-breaking curve and slider. . . . Astros officials still believe he has great stuff and can be a strong No. 4 or 5 pitcher.

Redding turned in a solid season for Houston in 2003, posting a 3.68 ERA and 5.94 K/9 in 32 starts at age 25, and he holds a minor league career K/9 of 10.80. The problem is his control of both his pitches (career 3.71 BB/9 in the majors, 4.45 BB/9 in the minors) and his emotions (think Jeff Weaver). Still, at age 27, having now passed through two organizations in a matter of months after spending his entire career in the Astros system, there is hope that Redding can put it all together. Certainly the Yankees haven’t risked anything to find out if he can.

Redding actually had one strong outing for the Padres this year. Starting against the Rockies in Petco Park (not exactly the Red Sox in Fenway) back on May 3, Redding posted this line: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 HR, 1 BB, 5 K, 71 percent of 95 pitches for strikes. In his final outing as a Padre (just his second since being activated from the DL), Redding came on in relief against the Dodgers in LA and pitched 1 2/3 hitless innings allowing just one baserunner via a walk and striking out two. So there’s some lightning in this bottle, though the fact that I felt that his relief appearance in LA was worth mentioning should tell you something about how likely it is we’ll see a flash tonight.

On the day that the team made public an injury that, if serious, could mean the end of their playoff hopes, the Yankees played a must-win games against their hated rivals, fell behind 4-0 in the first inning, but battled back to tie twice before Red Sox Nation’s most hated Yankee hit a go-ahead shot to dead center off everyone else’s most hated Red Sock in the ninth and the legendary Yankee closer who has famously struggled against Boston struck out the top three men in the Boston order to nail down the win.

You can’t make this stuff up.

After Robinson Cano ran into an out in the top of the first trying to stretch a bloop double spectacularly misplayed by Manny Ramirez into a triple, the Red Sox took full advantage of a clearly rusty Mike Mussina in the bottom of the inning. Following singles by Johnny Damon and David Ortiz that produced the game’s first run and a walk by Manny Ramirez, Mussina fell behind Yankee killer Trot Nixon 2-0 before evening the count only to wind up in a full count with one out (via a Renteria sac bunt that advanced Damon) and two on. Mussina’s next pitch stayed up in the zone and Nixon crushed it into the Red Sox’s bullpen for a three-run homer. Mussina then walked Kevin Millar on four pitches. Having only recorded one out (on a sacrifice, no less) Mussina was already down 4-0 with another man on. He then managed to pitch around another walk (his third of the inning, due in part to the fact that home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt was calling pitches over the black on left side of the plate balls through the early part of the game) to escape without any further damage. It took Mussina 34 pitches to get through the inning.

Fortunately, the Yankees got right back in the game in the top of the second with a pair of Pesky Pole home runs by Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams. Giambi’s shot landed in the front row just beyond the right field pole. Boston right fielder Trot Nixon lept into the crowd with an apparent bead on the ball, but a fan caught it just in front of Nixon’s glove.

Mussina settled down in bottom of the second by striking out Damon and erasing a Renteria single via a surprising 3-4-3 double play turned by Jason Giambi and the Yankees drew closer yet in the top of the third. Robinson Cano lead off with a single and was driven home when Gary Sheffield pounded a Bronson Arroyo pitch off the wall in dead center. The ball hit well above Johnny Damon’s leap and rolled to Nixon in right. Had, Sheffield been sprinting out of the gate, he could have had a triple. Instead, he would up with an RBI double and was stranded at second by a Rodriguez strike out and fly outs by Matsui and Posada. It was a mistake Sheffield would not make twice.

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note: the above-fold portion of this post has been revised since it was initially posted

With the Yankees having won nine of their last twelve games and having scored an average of nearly nine runs in their last six games, I was champing at the bit during the three-day All-Star break, enthusiastically anticipating this weekend’s four-game showdown with the rival Red Sox.

Then I heard the news that Chien-Ming Wang, whom I recently dubbed the Yankees ace, was placed on the 15-day DL with inflamation in his pitching shoulder, the same shoulder he had operated on four years ago, causing him to miss the entire 2001 season. That surgery was to repair a torn labrum and was performed by Dr. James Andrews. Wang will be examined by Andrews in Birmingham, Alabama on Monday morning for a second opinion. Yankee team doctor Stuart Hershon has already made a diagnosis that the Yankees are not releasing until after Wang sees Andrews, though according to the comments to Alex’s last post, Ruben Sierra (?!) has said that Wang could be out for the season. I’m going wait until I hear something from a more official source, but if that’s the case, the Yankees should start planning for 2006, because Wang’s won’t be the only season ended by this injury.

The Yankees have actually known about this injury since Monday. Wang pitched what appeared to be an uneventful bullpen session on Sunday, but woke up with pain in his shoulder on Monday morning, at which point Hershon examined him and made his undisclosed diagnosis.

To replace Wang, Tim Redding has joined Darrell May in the Yankee rotation, which is still only four men “deep.” The Yankees still hope to have Carl Pavano and Kevin Brown back soon (both of whom are already eligible to be activated), but according to Cashman, Pavano is still about two weeks away. Brown meanwhile is scheduled to pitch a bullpen session tomorrow and could start in Texas or Anaheim next week. Still, it seems likely that the Yanks will need a spot starter in addition to Redding and May, the latter of whom has not been officially announced as the starter for either Sunday or Monday.

ESPN has Tanyon Sturtze listed among their probables for the Red Sox series (though they are clearly incorrect as they also have Wang listed, but not Randy Johnson). If Sturtze is indeed Torre’s choice (and a quick look at the Clippers’ stats doesn’t result in a preferable option), I would hope the Yankees would be able to activate Felix Rodriguez to take his spot in the pen (though, there’s no guarantee that he’d do any better than Jason Anderson, whose hasn’t had an opportunity to prove himself, and whose spot Rodriguez will likely take).

However you shake it, the Yankee rotation is in shambles just when their offense appears ready to carry them to another pennant. In order to make hay against the Sox this weekend, they may have to score an average of 15 runs per game.

Speaking of whom . . .

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Late last week I attempted to assemble a superior 32-man All-Star Roster for the American League given the fans’ elected starting line-up and the requirement that every team be represented. With the All-Star game almost upon us, here’s my take on the National League:

First the starting line-up selected by the fans:

C – Mike Piazza
1B – Derrek Lee
2B – Jeff Kent
3B – Scott Rolen
SS – David Eckstein
OF – Bobby Abreu
OF – Jim Edmonds
OF – Carlos Beltran

Then the starters I voted for not included above:

C – Paul LoDuca
3B – Aramis Ramirez
SS – Bill Hall
OF – Jason Bay
OF – Miguel Cabrera

Then the two players I had the most difficulty eliminating to make my original picks:

3B – Morgan Ensberg
OF – Brian Giles

Next we’ll fill in players from the teams not yet represented:

Nationals: 1B – Nick Johnson
Braves: OF – Andruw Jones
Reds: OF – Adam Dunn
Diamondbacks: 3B – Troy Glaus
Giants: OF – Moises Alou
Rockies: RP – Brian Fuentes

Now, in addition to all of that, we need a starting DH as, unlike the American League, the fans were not able to vote for a National League Designated Hitter because there is no such thing. Albert Pujols is second in the NL in EQA and VORP but didn’t make it through any of the above methods. He’s our starting DH, one of our four third basemen or nine outfielders can be his back-up, giving us a minimum of two men at every offensive position except for second base. I’ll take Chase Utley there.

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It was a beautiful day for baseball yesterday as fifty former Yankee players (including seven current Yankee coaches and two YES broadcasters) suited up for the team’s 59th Old-Timers Day. As usual, Don Mattingly and the Hall of Fame quartet of Reggie Jackson, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra and Phil Rizzuto got the biggest response from the crowd, which on this day was 54,000 strong.

As the Old-Timers’ game itself got underway, however, some charcoal-gray clouds rolled in, forcing the Bomber alumni off the field as a down-poor began after a mere an inning and a half. What little action there was saw deep hits by Oscar Gamble, Kevin Maas and Venezuelan League Batting Champ Luis Sojo boost the “scrub team” Pinstripers to a 4-0 lead against a Yankee pitching rotation of Ron Guidry, Goose Gossage and Mel Stottlemyre. Pinstriper Stan Bahnsen retired Mickey Rivers, Wade Boggs and Don Mattingly in order in the bottom of the first, stranding Reggie Jackson in the on-deck circle. When the rain forced the players off the field after the top of the second, Reggie took a few pantomime swings in right field and threw his palms to the sky in exasperation.

The rain blew over in time for the regular game to start on time and the real Yankees got out to an early 2-0 lead on Cleveland starter Scott Elarton on back-to-back solo homers by Gary Sheffield (taking a “half-day off” at DH) and Alex Rodriguez in the bottom of the first. Rodriguez’s tater was an opposite field job that just cleared the right field wall, while Sheffield’s was an absolute moon shot that cleared the visiting bullpen in left field.

The Indians then proceeded to score seven unanswered runs against spot starter Darrell May. Jose Hernandez and Jhonny Peralta countered Sheffield and Rodriguez in the top of the second with back-to-back homers of their own, Hernandez’s a two-run job following a Casey Blake single. Hernandez, who started at first against the lefty May in place of the left-handed Ben Broussard, then drove Blake home again with another dinger in the third. Cleveland then rallied for two more in the fifth, with Travis Hafner–who was 0 for 5 with three walks in the first two games of the series–delivering an RBI double to drive May from the game. Hafner then scored on a single off reliever Scott Proctor that gave Jose Hernandez five RBIs on the day.

The Yankees finally got one back in the bottom of the fifth when Robinson Cano cashed in a lead-off Ruben Sierra double with a two-out RBI single to run the score to 7-3. The Yanks and Tribe then exchanged 1-2-3 innings and, after both teams stranded men in the seventh, many Yankee fans, including my companion for the day, Jay Jaffe, headed for the exits.

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After Thursday night’s 7-2 Yankee win I wrote:

If the Yankees and Red Sox both win tonight, the Yankees will move into second place in the East and will tie the Indians for second in the Wild Card race, leapfrogging the nose-diving O’s (3-11 in their last 14 games with last night’s win) in both cases.

And that is exactly what happened. The Yankees rolled to a tidy 5-4 victory over the Inidians behind yet another quality start from their ace, Chien Ming-Wang. Wang didn’t have his best stuff, though some of that–such as a solo home run by Grady Sizemore on the very first pitch of the game–could be blamed on the soggy conditions as it had rained all day and was actually coming down pretty hard when the game was started some twenty minutes after the scheduled first pitch.

The weather soon cleared up, as did the Yankees’ fortunes, with Melky Cabrera going 2 for 3 and scoring his first big league run amidst a four-run ralley in the bottom of the third. Jason Giambi capped that rally with yet another key hit, this one a two-out RBI single. Unfortunately, Giambi slipped on the wet dirt coming out of the box on that single, straining his left hip flexor. He was later replaced by Tino Martinez, but is not expected to miss more than one game, if that many.

If there was anything surprising about last night’s game it was the important role played by Wayne Franklin. When Aaron Boone, a pesky 4 for 4 on the night, hit Wang’s 110th pitch into center field for a two-out single in the seventh, Joe Torre called on the left-handed Franklin to pitch to lefty Grady Sizemore (he of the lead-off homer against Wang). That wasn’t terribly shocking (though I would have expected Buddy Groom to be his first choice lefty in a two-run game). What was shocking was that, after Franklin got Sizemore to fly out to end the seventh, Torre left him in to pitch the eighth.

Now, Tom Gordon was unavailable due to the shoulder injury that knocked him out of Thursday night’s game (his MRI was negative, the diagnosis is mild tendonitis, he’s day-to-day), but Tanyon Sturtze was both available and warming up. The logic for sticking with Franklin was likely the fact that lefty Travis Hafner was due up second, but Torre could have used Groom to face Hafner had Sturtze allowed lead-off batter Coco Crisp to reach base. Perhaps looking to give Sturtze another day of rest coming off his Monday spot start in which he pushed himself to exhaustion, Torre stuck with Franklin, who pitched a perfect eighth, striking out Hafner and Victor Martinez to get the ball to Mariano for the ninth.

Oddly, it was Rivera who nearly blew the game. After striking out Ben Broussard to start the ninth, Mo gave up a double to Ronnie Belliard and a single to Jhonny Peralta (Belliard held at third knowing he could score on an out and perhaps respecting Carbrera’s arm in center). Casey Blake then hit for lefty Jody Gerut and lifted a sac fly to left, driving home Belliard, the first run Rivera’s allowed since May 6 (a span of 23 innings). After catching Blake’s fly, Hideki Matsui threw to second to hold Peralta at first. As it turns out, that saved the game as Boone followed with his fourth hit to push Peralta to third before Mo got Sizemore to ground out to Tino to end the game.

It will be interesting to see if Franklin’s perfect inning and a third will inspire Joe Torre to use him in more important spots over the next two games. I had previously argued that today’s starter, Darrell May, would be a better option in Franklin’s role as the second lefty and long man in the pen. Assuming one of them will be sent back to Columbus after the break when Brown and Pavano are (hopefully) activated, they could both be pitching for a job over these last two games prior to the break.

That’s about the best I can do for a subplot to today’s Old-Timers’ Day match-up between May and Scott Elarton. I’ll be at the game with the Futility Infielder‘s Jay Jaffe, mourning the absence of Dave Winfield while telling tales of the halcyon days of Steve Sax, Kevin Maas, Steve Balboni, Mike Pagliarulo and Dan Pasqua (all of whom will be in uniform).

The rain has finally stopped out here in New Jersey and it appears the Yankees and Indians will indeed play ball tonight. The pitching match-up is a compelling duel of 26-year-old lefty Cliff Lee (3.68, 9-3) and the Yankees 25-year-old ace Chien-Ming Wang (who leads the Yankee starters with a 3.87 ERA and a 1.19 WHIP). Meanwhile, despite the presence of the lefty Lee on the mound, Joe Torre has returned to what appears to be his now regular line-up:

Jeter
Cano
Sheffield
Rodriguez
Matsui
Giambi
Posada
Williams
Cabrera

I can hardly believe my eyes. Go Yankees!

A two-run Alex Rodriguez homer in the first inning of last night’s gave the Yankees an early lead they would never relinquish as they rolled to a 7-2 victory behind a solid outing from Mike Mussina (7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 1 HR, 3 BB, 5 K), running their current winning streak to five games.

The one homer Mussina gave up came off the bat of Jhonny Peralta in the top of the second, but Jason Giambi got the run right back on Kevin Millwood’s second pitch of the bottom of the inning with a solo shot of his own. Actually, Giambi’s shot would have hit off the top of the wall in right, but Cleveland right fielder Casey Blake managed to catch it, only to have it pop out of his glove and over the wall for a home run.

Amazingly, both Giambi’s deflected home run in the second and Rodriguez’s opposite field shot in the first were touched by the same fan in the right field stands. A sturdy fellow in his late 30s/early 40s with black gelled hair and a blue-gray t-shirt bobbled Rodriguez’s shot eventually knocking it back onto the field, then had Giambi’s ball scoot right through his hands altogether. He didn’t wind up with either ball.

The Yankees fifth run also came on a bizarre play. Following a Cano infield single, a Sheffield fly out and a Rodriguez walk, Hideki Matusi singled to score Cano for the fourth run and put runners at the corners. Then, with a 1-0 count on Giambi, Millwood caught his front spike on the mound while attempting to pitch from the stretch. Rolling his ankle slightly, Millwood had to kick his foot toward first to avoid injury, eliminating the momentum of his delivery completely. However, with a runner on third, Millwood didn’t want to stop his motion and get called for a balk, so he sort of flipped the ball home with a flick of his wrist. Unfortunately for the Indians, the throw went wide of Victor Martinez behind the plate and both runners advanced anyway.

Giambi then singled home Matsui from second to make it 6-2 Yankees (the Indians scored their second run on a pair of singles and a groundout in the fifth). Derek Jeter added a solo homer leading off the seventh against Fernando Cabrera to cap the scoring.

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As Steven Goldman pointed out in a recent Pinstriped Blog entry, tonight the Yankees begin, in Steve’s words, a “punishingly difficult” stretch of schedule that extends through late August. Between now and August 21 the Yankees will face the following:

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A week ago I took a look that the American and National League All-Star ballots, posting my picks for the 17 starting slots. This past Sunday the 62 players selected by the fans (17 starting position players), players (33 hitters and pitchers), and team managers Terry Francona and Tony LaRussa (12 hitters and pitchers) were announced. Today the winners of the Final Man fan vote were revealed to complete the rosters.

With the rosters set, I thought it would be fun to go back and try to assemble the 32-man rosters the “old” way (prior to the inclusion of the player and final man votes) as a way to figure out exactly whose invitation got sent to the wrong address. My only limitations here are the fan vote, the requirement that every team be represented, and the 32-man roster size.

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The saga of Paul Quantrill and Mike Stanton continues today as is has been reported that the Yankees have actually convinced the Padres to offer up a pair of warm bodies and cash for the DFAed Quantrill. The two players acquired, former Royals lefty Darrell May and former Astros righty Tim Redding, are not much to write home about, but it’s always nice to get something in return for a player you were planning to release anyway.

Both pitchers will report to Columbus, but it seems to me that May would be a much better choice than Wayne Franklin to fill the roll of second lefty/long man/spot starter with the big club. May, who just turned 33, is almost two years older than Franklin and just as susceptible to the long ball (1.65 HR/9 in nearly 600 major league innings prior to this year to Franklin’s 1.61), but he has far better control (2.86 BB/9 through 2004 to Franklin’s 4.58), a league average career ERA (5.04, 97 ERA+ to Franklin’s 5.47/80) and superior splits.

Franklin has pitched well at Columbus this year (4.13 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 10.74 K/9, 3.03 BB/9, 0.83 HR/9, 3.54 K/BB), but when he was called up it was reported (forgive me, I can’t find where I read it) that he had held right handers to a very low batting average. As his opponents were hitting .242 against him overall, that would mean that lefty’s are getting to him pretty well. In his major league career, Franklin has a proper split, but not a very strong one:

vs. L: .261/.329/.468 (.265 GPA)
vs. R: .270/.369/.483 (.287)

May’s career splits are not available, but here are his splits since 2002, when he returned to the majors after four years pitching in Japan (two as Hideki Matsui’s teammate with the Yomiuri Giants):

vs. L: .263/.300/.447 (.247)
vs. R: .280/.332/.518 (.279)

May has a bigger split and lower GPAs against both lefties and righties. What’s more there’s this split from his time with the Padres thus far this year:

As Starter: 6.94, 1.69 WHIP, .318 BAA
As Reliever: 3.52, 1.39 WHIP, .278 BAA

In addition, while May has indeed been terrible as a starter this year, he did have a strong outing against the Twins less than two weeks ago in which he allowed just one run (a Matt LeCroy homer) in six innings while striking out four and allowing just two other baserunners (both on singles).

So, while the Yankees would still be better off giving that final bullpen slot to a younger player such as Alex Graman or Colter Bean, they’ve already given themselves the opportunity to improve upon their current roster with the acquisition of May (which is a pretty damning statement now that I think about).

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note: this post was to be posted before game time, but was held up due to a black out resulting from a sudden thunderstorm.

Normally at the start of a new series I post the roster of the team the Yankees are about to face, but after the last couple of days, I thought it might be helpful to post the Yankees current roster.

New York Yankees

2005 Record: 39-38 (.506)
2005 Pythagorean Record: 41-36 (.532)

Manager: Joe Torre
General Manager: Brian Cashman

Ballpark (2004 park factors): Yankee Stadium (96/97)

Current Roster

1B – Jason Giambi
2B – Robinson Cano
SS – Derek Jeter
3B – Alex Rodriguez
C – Jorge Posada
RF – Gary Sheffield
CF – Tony Womack
LF – Hideki Matsui
DH – Ruben Sierra

Bench:

S – Bernie Williams (OF)
L – Tino Martinez (1B)
R – Russ Johnson (IF)
L – Bubba Crosby (OF)
R – John Flaherty (C)

Rotation:

L – Randy Johnson
R – Mike Mussina
R – Carl Pavano
R – Chien-Ming Wang

Bullpen:

R – Mariano Rivera
R – Tom Gordon
R – Tanyon Sturtze
L – Buddy Groom
R – Jason Anderson
R – Scott Proctor
L – Wayne Franklin

DL:

R – Kevin Brown
R – Rey Sanchez (IF)
R – Felix Hernandez
R – Jaret Wright (60-day)

As for who’s replaced whom, by demoting Kevin Reese in favor of righty Jason Anderson on Wednesday, then designating Paul Quantrill and Mike Stanton for assignment yesterday in favor of Bubba Crosby and lefty Wayne Franklin, you get this:

Bubba Crosby replaces Kevin Reese
Jason Anderson replaces Paul Quantrill
Wayne Franklin replaces Mike Stanton

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With the All-Star voting closing tonight at 11:59pm and the Yanks enjoying an off-day following a rain out, I though I’d share my picks.

AL

1B – Mark Teixeira
2B – Brian Roberts
SS – Miguel Tejada
3B – Alex Rodriguez
C – Jason Varitek
OF – Vladimir Guerrero
CF – Hideki Matsui
OF – Gary Sheffield

NL

1B – Derek Lee
2B – Jeff Kent
SS – Bill Hall
3B – Aramis Ramirez
C – Paul Lo Duca
OF – Bobby Abreu
CF – Jason Bay
OF – Miguel Cabrera

There are two sides to picking an All-Star team. One is picking the players who have performed the best over the first three months of the current season. The other is choosing the biggest stars at each position. This is similar to the peak vs. career conversation that often arises when weighing a player’s Hall of Fame candidacy. Myself, I lean toward choosing the players who have performed best in the current season, the logic being that they have these things every year for a reason. Even Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez have to earn an All-Star appearance in my book. Some would argue that a three-month period is not a large enough sample, that perhaps it would be better to reward the previous years’ performance, thus allowing things to even out over a full season. Me, I’d much rather see Norm Cash in 1961 than in 1962 and Brady Anderson in 1996 than 1997, thus I’ll continue to vote for the players having the best season and risk the odd fluke selection.

Those who disagree will likely take one look at the above list of names and get all bent out of shape over my choosing Milwaukee’s Bill Hall as the starting National League shortstop. To them I ask, would you prefer Felipe Lopez?

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Well, the Yankees and Orioles have been rained out in Baltimore tonight, but there is some Yankee news to report. With Hideki Matsui able to play the field again, the Yanks have demoted Kevin Reese and brought up Jason Anderson.

For those who don’t remember him from 2003, when he made the Yankees out of spring training as a 23-year-old rookie, Anderson is a now-26-year-old righty reliever who has a strong minor league track record (3.35 ERA, 1.21 WHIP, 7.93 K/9, 2.54 K/9, 3.13 K/BB through 2004), but was unable to capitalize upon his best major league opportunity in 2003. That year he made 28 of his 29 career major league apperances. After 22 games with the Yankees in 2003, Anderson was dealt accross town in the Armando Benitez trade and eventually wound up in the Indians system before returning to the Yankees via a waver claim just over a year ago, having appeared in just seven more games total for the Mets and Indians.

In Columbus this season, Anderson has been the Clipper’s best reliever, improving upon that minor league career line thusly: 2.85 ERA, 0.87 WHIP, .189 BAA, 7.99 K/9, 2.09 BB/9, 3.81 K/BB (47.1 IP, 30 H, 42 K, 11 BB, 4 HR)

Having Anderson on the team is a step in the right direction as he’s been excellent in Columbus thus far and could make one of the Yankees Bad Three (Stanton, Quantrill, Groom) expendable if he finally puts it together at the major league level.

Incidentally, as luck would have it, the Yankees got rained out on the night Joe Torre finally figured out the Yankees’ ideal line-up. According to MLB Gameday:

R – Jeter (SS)
L – Cano (2B)
R – Sheffield (RF)
R – Rodriguez (3B)
L – Matsui (LF)
S – Posada (C)
L – Giambi (DH)
S – Williams (CF)
L – Martinez (1B)

Last night, with a significant assist from their manager, the Yankees blew their chance to bum rush second place and the Wild Card race with a sweep of the current series against the Orioles. Instead, all the team has to show for their efforts on Tuesday are the on-going renaissance of Hideki Matsui (3 for 4 with a double and a homer and 2 RBIs, pushing his season line to .305/.372/.495, his best marks since late April) and the continued emergence of Robinson Cano (2 for 4 with a homer and two runs scored from the two-hole) and Chien-Ming Wang.

If Wang’s impressive outing against the hard-hitting Orioles wasn’t enough to silence his doubters, here’s a quick look at the quality starts (min. 6 IP, max 3 ER) the Yankees have received from their seven starters thus far this season:

Pavano should rightly be even with Mike Mussina at .500, as it’s hard to blame him for the April 10 start which he was forced to leave in the third inning after being beaned by a comebacker. Meanwhile, Mussina will try to push his mark above .500 as he takes the mound tonight against the Orioles.

Rookie Hayden Penn will foot the rubber for the Orioles, making his seventh major league start. Penn’s only quality start thus far came against the Rockies, who are essentially a triple-A team anyway, at home in his second most recent start. His one outing since then was by far his worst in the majors as he gave up seven runs on eight hits and two walks to the Braves in just two innings. Still, Penn is regarded as a legitimate talent. Check out what Baseball Analysts’ Bryan Smith wrote about him in a recent post addressing some of the rookie talent to debut in 2005.

First of all, kudos to the Orioles for handling Penn correctly. While promoting the red-hot Penn might have been premature with John Maine in the International League, it hasn’t really come back to haunt the Orioles. They also have kept close watch on Penn’s pitch counts, only twice letting him go into triple-digits, and never over 103 [which could have cost him as many as three or four additional quality starts–CJC]. But, Penn has been getting hit up of late, with five home runs allowed in his last three starts. Sooner or later, if the ship is not righted, swapping Maine and Penn might be in the best interest of everyone involved. No matter what, Hayden is one fantastic talent.

Incidentally, Bryan has some very kind words for Robinson Cano in that post. Be sure to check it out.

Chien-Ming Wang acquited himself quite nicely against Baltimore’s sluggin’ O’s last night, posting his seventh quality start in ten starts on the season with this line: 7 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 2 HR, 0 BB, 3 K.

Unfortunately, Joe Torre’s notorious push-button bullpen mismanagement and continually fragile faith in Wang conspired to rob the rookie right-hander and his team of a win.

Here’s the situation: Bottom of the eighth inning. The Yankees have a 4-3 lead. Wang has thrown just 83 pitches, 68 percent of them strikes. In the seventh he got Sammy Sosa to groundout on a full count, gave up a full-count single to Luis Matos, induced a double play grounder from Chris Gomez on a 1-2 count that was turned into a fielder’s choice when Matos forced Robinson Cano to make a wide throw to first, then got pinch-hitter Eli Marrero to fly out on a 1-0 count.

The top of the Oriole order is due up in this inning: Switch-hitter Brian Roberts (ground out, fly out, double), lefty Larry Bigbie (homer, two ground outs), and righty Miguel Tejada (ground out, single, foul out to Posada). Everyone is available in the pen.

What do you do?

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